Dr. Keisha V. Thompson is a Full Professor of Psychology at Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York, where she has spent over a decade empowering students to become agents of change in their own lives and communities. Originally from Trinidad & Tobago and raised in Brooklyn, she holds a doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Texas A&M University, a master's degree in School Counseling from Hunter College, CUNY, and a bachelor's degree in Business Communication from Baruch College, CUNY.

Her clinical background spans university counseling centers, community mental health, VA medical centers, the federal prison system, and K–12 schools — a breadth of experience that deeply informs her commitment to the full humanity of every student she serves.

Her research is centered on Blackness in the African diaspora, identity development, and mental health in Black youth and women. She is the director of the documentary film There All Along: Women of Trinidad & Tobago Black Power and the project leader of Dear Younger Me: Healing the Inner Black Girl, an immersive psychoeducational installation presented across the U.S. and Canada.

A first-generation immigrant and college graduate, Dr. Thompson is the co-creator of the Historically Underrepresented Faculty & Staff Resource Center at Kingsborough. She also serves as Board Chair of Kindred Bakery BK, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit dedicated to empowering marginalized youth through baking education, skill-building, and community. Whether in the classroom, on screen, or in the community, her mission remains constant: to expand knowledge, build lasting structures of support, and remind people of the power they already carry within themselves.

Education

Ph.D., Counseling Psychology — Texas A&M University, 2011

MS Ed, School Counseling — Hunter College, CUNY

BA, Business Communication — Baruch College, CUNY

BA, Business Communication — Baruch College, CUNY

Awards & Honors

2026 CACNY Role Model of Distinction

2021 Caribbean Life Impact Award

2022 Virginia Tech Residency

CUNY Black, Race & Ethnic Studies Initiative Award

2017 Baruch College SEEK Alumni Award

Curated Workshops & Panels

  • Colorism, Identity & The Politics of Skin

  • Body image & Self-Presentation

  • Self-Care as Resistance

  • Afya Njema: Health & Wellness

  • Grief and Loss

  • Rituals in therapy

  • Creating Belonging for Faculty & Staff of Color

  • Navigating Academic Spaces as a First-Generation Professional

  • Black Women in the Workplace & Academy

  • Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

  • Building Kinship Circles for Life & Work Balance

  • Bridging The Gap: Building Community Across Difference

  • Black Identity & Faith: Living at the Intersection

  • Community & Belonging in the Black Church

  • Mental Health & the Faith Community

  • Black Identity Development in the Diaspora

  • Pan-African Identity & Transnationalism

  • Healing & Wholeness: A Faith-Centered Approach

“When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.”

- Toni Morrison